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For many small businesses, particularly those that provide products to certain industries, selling to other businesses is a daily part of their working life. The art of selling to businesses rather than individuals is slightly different. Here is some of my advice to you for selling to other businesses:
Discover their needs: Businesses often have more highly specific requirements than individuals. If you are prepared to make allowances that will allow them to run their business more easily, they will appreciate the effort and you can serve them better.
Know their industry: It always helps to have at least a passing knowledge of the industry that your business customers operate in. Your customers need to get the impression that you know your stuff and are not out of your depth when dealing with them on a B2B level.
Build trust: It is important that you pass on some of your savings to B2B customers to show solidarity. All small businesses are struggling in the current economy and it won't do you any good for your customers to go out of business.
Provide incentives: Try to 'add value' to your company in various ways that will benefit your business customers. For example, if it would be helpful for you to stock additional products that they require, you should consider adding them to your product offerings.
Personalised pitching: When trying to win over potential B2B customers, you need to convince them on a personal level that your product will have some sort of positive impact on the business. You need to to forget about describing the features and tell them how it will benefit their business.
Following-up: By staying in touch with business customers, it is possible to identify problems that might stop them purchasing from you again in the future. Give them a courtesy call to find out what they thought about your products or the service you provided, then do everything possible to try and repair the relationship.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
